Saturday, February 4, 2012

As a change of pace from our Disney trips, we got passes to Sea World for the year and went for the first time at the end of January. The weather was perfect and we can't wait until Heidi comes so we can take her with us and enjoy all the things we didn't have time for the first trip!

The first thing we did was watch the Dolphin and Bird show, which I think was everyone's favorite part of the day. The girls loved it, especially Naomi who joined in clapping when everyone else in the crowd did.

Charlotte was mesmerized!

I realize I look ridiculous, but the last time I was at Sea World was in 10th grade with a group from our church for leadership training, and some of the girls and I were being barnacles on the dolphin aquarium wall. I didn't feel as ridiculous 10 years ago when I did this with my friends! I tweeted a picture for Shannon, who I knew would remember!

Charlotte rode on some of the big kid rides and loved it! Since I'm all knocked up and whatnot, Daddy got to ride them all with her. He said her face when they went down the first drop of the kiddie roller coaster was priceless. It was part "I can't believe you didn't tell me it did this!" and part enjoyment. But mostly "I can't believe you didn't tell me it did this!". But after that one part she was all smiles and ate it up!

While Charlotte rode on the big kid rides, Naomi snoozed in the stroller.

Once she did wake up, Naomi was quite eager to ride some of the rides with her cousins. She maintained this same stoic expression the entire ride. Jared kept telling her to "Wave to Mommy!", so she started waving, but it was quite obvious she couldn't really see where or who she was waving to.

Playing in the sprinklers

Riding the train with her cousins

Naomi, removing the shades, to get a better look at something

Note to self: Jolly Rancher Push Pops are not a good idea for a two year old and four year old!

A family picture at the end of the day

Naomi was asleep before we got out of the parking lot. She was wiped out!

It didn't take Charlotte much longer to pass out!

We had a great time at Sea World and I think we'll really enjoy our year of trips there. For a significantly cheaper price, we were able to get passes good for the whole week, with no black out dates, as opposed to the weekday Disney passes we had that had blackout dates in the summer, Christmas, and Spring Break. It is nice being able to park and walk right up to the entrance of the park, as opposed to parking, taking the tram, then the monorail, and then finally getting to the entrance of the park, especially with a double stroller! They have a great kiddie area with lots of rides for the younger ones and the wait times weren't bad at all.

What I didn't enjoy as much as I remember was the Shamu show. The trainers don't get in the water and swim with the whales anymore, I assume from the drowning of a trainer a while back. And rather than introducing and telling everyone about the whales, they have huge TV screens that move and rotate with all sorts of "Love the earth" images, and hydro-technics with blasts of water shooting from just outside the tank. It was all sort of distracting from the whales, which is what everyone was there to see. But aside from that, we had a great time and are looking forward to our next trip!